{"id":227,"date":"2005-05-18T22:43:42","date_gmt":"2005-05-18T22:43:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/j.unoccupied.org\/?p=227"},"modified":"2005-05-18T22:43:42","modified_gmt":"2005-05-18T22:43:42","slug":"futile-assurances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/j.unoccupied.org\/?p=227","title":{"rendered":"futile assurances"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>She had been moving things out of her room for the last few days.  Now, there were a total of 11 boxes.  I looked at them taking ups space in the living room.  Four rows stacked&#8230;then another row stacked.  How could she have so many things.  As I was thinking these thoughts, she came back into the house after talking to a neighbor.  She took an open box with things and walked to the stairs.<\/p>\n<p>Out of an automatic reflex, I said, \\&#8221;Do you need any help?\\&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Very casual.  Very innocent.  She gave me a surprised look&#8230;and halted in her path toward the stairs.  \\&#8221;Ooh&#8230;thanks&#8230;\\&#8221;  She hesitated.  My bitterness would not go away so I didn\\&#8217;t look at her&#8230;I looked past her.<\/p>\n<p>She tried again and said, \\&#8221;I want to apologize for the things that have happened&#8230;\\&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I looked at her.<\/p>\n<p>\\&#8221;It was a learning experience.  It\\&#8217;s too bad&#8230;\\&#8221; she continued then took another step.  Then she stopped.<\/p>\n<p>I felt unmoved.  I looked past her toward the living room wall, still bitter from what happened the last few months.  \\&#8221;What\\&#8217;s up&#8230;I am really surprised that you talked to me&#8230;\\&#8221; she giggled nervously&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I responded, \\&#8221;That\\&#8217;s the way life goes.  Things happen.  I don\\&#8217;t&#8230;like to&#8230;see people struggle.\\&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\\&#8221;Yeah&#8230;\\&#8221; she trailed off.<\/p>\n<p>\\&#8221;Well, good luck with your move.  Let me know if you need any help.\\&#8221;  I gave her a look that said the end of conversation.  I sat downstairs on the couch fiddling with my keys and my phone&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>She went upstairs&#8230;I went to the kitchen trying to start cooking my dinner, rummaging through the sink for cleaning dirty dishes.  Suddenly, she returned and asked, \\&#8221;Jenn?  Do you want to go to Bankok Balcony [a nearby thai restaurant]?\\&#8221;  If I hadn\\&#8217;t been busy, I would have said no.  I said no&#8230;that I was waiting for someone.<\/p>\n<p>I didn\\&#8217;t smile.  She asked me if I wanted to go for bubble tea.  \\&#8221;Maybe later&#8230;.let me know.\\&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Then she left.<\/p>\n<p>I was confused.  And yet I didn\\&#8217;t care anymore.,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>She had been moving things out of her room for the last few days. Now, there were a total of 11 boxes. I looked at them taking ups space in the living room. Four rows stacked&#8230;then another row stacked. How could she have so many things. As I was thinking these thoughts, she came back &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/j.unoccupied.org\/?p=227\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">futile assurances<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/j.unoccupied.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/j.unoccupied.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/j.unoccupied.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j.unoccupied.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j.unoccupied.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/j.unoccupied.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/j.unoccupied.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j.unoccupied.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j.unoccupied.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}